Posted on October 23, 2011 in Arts & Culture
By Dylan Martin

Courtesy of Allen Baldwin

Throw aside the Hollywood-horror drivel and go local this Halloween. A Maine-based film festival hits the state for a second year with Halloween-inspired shorts created by some of the state’s best filmmakers.

Between now and Oct. 30, Damnationland infects eight independent theaters across the state. Locations include Auburn, Orono, Bangor, Bridgton, Waterville, Brunswick, and Rockland. Most notably, however, the organizers of the festival are holding a four night run at the legendary space formerly known as the Movies on Exchange in Portland.

With more screenings and a bigger advertising budget this year, the organizers said they’re trying to develop a brand that is recognized for high-brow horror and thriller films. Allen Baldwin, co-founder of Damnationland, said he’s going to push for national distribution this year and possibly a spot at a Brooklyn film festival.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think that these were worthwhile films for anybody to watch. I really don’t believe in lowering the standards just because it’s local,” Baldwin said in an interview before the festival’s premiere last week at Nickelodeon Cinemas.

This year’s films were mostly directed by newcomers to the festival, except for Jeffrey Griecci, who directed the Poe-inspired A Bell In The Yard last year. His latest film, titled Telephoto, is a crooked tale of cat and mouse where a photographer takes a photo of a murderer in the act. While the short oozes of suspense and quirk, it also provides some hilarious caricatures of Maine residents, both young and old.

Are You The Walkers?, a film by festival newcomer Derek Kimball, is a modern folktale of two friends who, in the middle of a winter storm, battle the paranoia of staying in a small cabin by the lake. Kimball is best know for his short film, The Bully, which received awards from six national film festivals and was selected for five others.

The two films, in addition to the other three, were made specifically for Damnationland. Co-founders Baldwin and Eddy Bolz chose the directors because they said these directors knew how to work within a budget and deliver a story with passion. It only makes sense, because short films seldom find commercial success.

“You can’t go into making independent films believing that you’re going to sell it, because then you’re going to be setting yourself up for failure,” Baldwin said. “You have to go into all this stuff with this belief that it’s worth doing because it’s worth doing.”